Some wood-wind musical instruments such as the oboe, english horn, and bassoon employ a special kind of mouthpiece having two reeds. In view of this characteristic, the instruments are commonly called double-reed instruments, and the mouthpiece a double-reed mouthpiece.
Much like a single-reed mouthpiece as the source of sound on a single-reed instrument, the double-reed mouthpiece supplies the sound for double-reed instruments. Passage of the musician's breath over the reeds sets them into vibration, and when this is skillfully done, the double-reed wood-winds come alive with the music we know.
But beyond this similarity, the double-reed mouthpiece is quite different, and one of the most important differences is the fabrication process. This invention relates to the fabrication process and to devices used in performing a particular step in that process, the step of profiling reeds.
Profiling reeds refers to the process of shaping the reeds so that the fully assembled mouthpiece has the desired profile, that is, the desired shape and thickness. Mouthpiece performance is critically dependent upon these attributes, and precise profiling is essential. So important is the profile of the reed that musicians can have templates made of the precise profile they prefer. The contour of these templates are followed as a pattern during the profiling operation.
A fully assembled double-reed mouthpiece includes two carefully shaped reeds held together in precise alignment. The reeds lie almost flat against each other, with just enough space between them for passage of the musician's breath. The reeds are held in this position by attachment at one end to a "staple" made up of a tube passing through a piece of cork that plugs into the instrument. The other end of the reeds, the "crow", remains free for placement between the musician's lips. It is the crow that must be precisely profiled.
Thin elastic reed cane, such as that grown in the Mediterranean area, supplies the reed stock from which the reeds are formed. Both reeds are usually formed from a single section of reed stock; one-half of the reed stock is shaped to form one of the reeds, and the other half is shaped to form the other reed. The two reeds join together at the center of the reed stock, along what will become the tip of the crow.
Once the section of reed stock has been shaped to the desired profile (profiled), it is folded at the center so that the two reeds lie almost flat against each other. Excess material is removed and the reeds are tied onto a staple. The tip of the crow is then trimmed to separate the two reeds from one another, and a fully assembled doublereed mouthpiece results.
Three different sizes are most commonly made, the size of the mouthpiece corresponding to the instrument on which it will be used. The oboe mouthpiece is the smallest, the english horn mouthpiece only slightly larger, and the bassoon mouthpiece a good deal larger. These different sizes, in combination with the delicate physical structure of the mouthpiece and the customized profile variations sought by individual musicians, make the fabrication of double-reed mouthpieces a real art and the use of appropriate tools highly desirable.
Various tools for performing the profiling operation exist in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,170 of Herzberg et al. describes a precision reed trimming machine for use in trimming reed material for bassoons. The Herzberg device employs a section of reed material on a reed support that is rotatable about one axis, and a template on a cam assembly that is rotatable about another axis.
This device suffers from certain drawbacks. In the first place, it is designed for the larger, easier-to-handle bassoon reeds, and it is in many respects awkward and ineffective for the smaller reeds used on the oboe and english horn. Secondly, the template and reed material are rotatable about different axes. This results in less precise control of the profiling operation. Also, the Herzberg device requires more complicated mechanical structure to synchronize rotation of the reed support with rotation of the cam assembly, and this leaves more room for error.
Consequently, it is desirable to have a new apparatus for profiling reeds for double-reed instruments.
It is desirable that the apparatus be suitable for profiling the smaller reeds used on the oboe and english horn.
It is desirable that the apparatus enable more precise profiling, and that it avoid the complicated mechanical structure of the prior art.